Review

Pop Evil's music has always balanced on a thin line between the two dominate rock styles that fabulize the 21st century rock radio waves: post-grunge in the vein of Fuel and 3 Doors Down, and alternative metal similar to Sevendust and Staind. Not much has changed for the band on Onyx, but that doesn't prevent them from delivering upon the thrills they're good at. This middle-ground between radio rock and radio metal makes the band a bit unique when compared to their peers. While they never attempt to be as pulverizing as Godsmack or Disturbed, the slight heaviness they do possess brings just enough muscle and adds just the right amount of kick to their anthems to let them ride the line between rock and metal while staying accessible but packing a marginally satisfying punch at the same time. On another note, they still aren't downers in the least bit. They save the brooding for the handful of ballads and direct their anger outwardly as opposed to the common approach of self-loathing, and that confident stride these rockers demonstrate is always a definite and welcome refresher from the all-consuming angst displayed by most acts in their genre.

Pop Evil also maintain a subtle southern metal flavor that's heat gives their riffs just the right amount of groove metal-esque stylistic sizzle, but never prompts them to diverge into the area of bone-headed songs in cultural tribute to a sex and booze lifestyle. Another noticeable improvement is Pop Evil's consistency. There aren't any awkwardly out of place tales of sexual escapades to be found here like the Saving Abel-reminiscent "Boss's Daughter" off of their previous album War of Angels; Onyx is just a straight-forward serving of contemporary heavy rock with more of a punch than what's usually found within the genre. While Onyx won't prevent Pop Evil from being dismissed as merely a heavier Shinedown by some, if given a chance, they actually display that they have quite a few minor yet notable qualities that puts them a step above the mediocre level of your everyday run of the mill modern rock/metal groups.

Hey everyone! Long time no see. Alright so, when I initially started writing something for this, I intended for it to be a simple soundoff to help get me back in the mindset of reviewing, kind of as just a short little warm-up you could say, but as I kept on writing I found I had a lot more to say than I originally thought I would, so it ended up being too long to be a soundoff.

I actually was planning on a review for the new Alice in Chains to be my return from a month's absence since this album and review really aren't anything too special or relevant to the site's interest, but still, nice to be getting back to reviewing again.

Whoops, thanks for the catch there guys. Spellcheck has made a fool of me once again. Thanks for the compliments as well! Also, Brostep, this is a million times better than anything Hinder's ever done, I assure you. That's really not saying much though, since you could say that about even Nickelback.

Out of all the things that are considered 'radio rock' that I have heard recently, I think Volbeat is the best find I have had in a while. I have heard the first few tracks from this, and it wasn't too bad either.

Definitely, breaking. The guy from Volbeat's voice can be a little over the top voice and his vibrato gets too crazy sometimes, but the music is pretty great. It took me a few listens before his singing style came around for me.

Even though it came out mid-last year, I also really enjoyed Young Gun's last release, Bones. They are a UK rock band and have just started getting attention in the states over the last 6 months or so.

Lol I was the one who actually put this album on Sputnik and gave the first rating. I've loosely followed the band like many from the post-grunge genre that I used to love. I still haven't found a post-grunge album I've enjoyed in a long time. It's mostly a dead genre imo (not that there was a whole lot to begin with).